Grey Warden in Shining Armor
by Disgusted Noise
Summary: Elissa Cousland just wanted to save a kitten. Morrigan/F!Cousland


"Here, kitty, kitty," Elissa Cousland said gently, extending her hand as far as she could across the thin branch. The poor cat in question was terrified, shrinking away from her reach. Elissa sighed as she heard Leliana and Alistair snicker from the ground below. "You're not helping!" She shouted down at them, only to scare the cat even more as it reached the end of the branch, nearly falling off. "No, no! It's okay, kitty. Just come here, I'll help you down."

"It does not _understand_ you!" Morrigan finally quipped with her arms crossed in front of her chest, having remained silent for the whole ordeal until now. "Why are you even _doing_ this? Tis a _cat_!"

"Exactly! It's just a poor little cat, it needs help—"

"We are facing _bigger_ problems—"

"But it'll only take a minute—"

"We have been standing here for nearly half an hour as you climbed that damned tree to save the _damned_ cat!" Morrigan shouted, throwing her hands up in exasperation as she lost her temper.

"Well if someone would _help_ me—"

"And how are we supposed to do that, I wonder?"

" _Well!"_ Elissa shouted, exasperated. "Shapeshift into a cat then and tell it I only want to help!"

Morrigan stared at the Grey Warden in disbelief.

"Please tell me you don't believe it works that way."

Leliana and Alistair snickered once again, only to stop as they noticed the glares they were receiving from both Elissa and Morrigan.

Elissa then ignored the rest of the group as she continued to reach for the poor, helpless kitten.

"I _cannot_ believe this is happening," Morrigan said under her breath, shaking her head as she rubbed her eyes.

Alistair scoffed, having heard Morrigan. "Why? This is all _your_ fault, you know."

"And how, exactly, is that?" Morrigan asked, all but glaring at man.

"' _Oh, lovely. Shall we next begin saving little kittens from trees_?'" Alistair repeated the witch's earlier words in an exaggeratedly high voice, scrunching his face as he made air quotations.

Morrigan peered at him through squinted eyes and furrowed brows, as if that would help her understand the situation more. To make it more infuriating, Leliana nodded, as if _she_ understood what was going on.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Leliana shrugged lightly. "She loves getting under your skin—"

Alistair barked out a short, loud, laugh. "Ha! I can tell you what she'd _rather_ be getting under—"

"—You might as well have challenged her directly," Leliana continued as if she hadn't been interrupted, though she smirked at Alistair's words.

Morrigan ignored Alistair, her brain honestly couldn't comprehend what he was trying to say, and narrowed in on Leliana's statement.

The witch blinked her eyes in disbelief before glaring at Leliana, who, for her part, managed not to look scared.

"You're trying to tell me she's saving that cat _just_ to get on my nerves?" Morrigan asked, her voice an octave higher than normal as she tried to keep her temper in check.

"Well, I imagine she's actually worried about the poor thing, too," Alistair offered, "she _is_ kind of a bleeding heart."

Unfortunately, while the three weren't paying attention, Elissa managed to climb farther on the thin branch. She extended her hand out one last time, grabbing the cat with a shout of triumph…

Right before the branch snapped, sending both her and the cat falling to the ground below. Elissa impacted the ground with a loud grunt, and three pairs of eyes widened as they looked at her.

Luckily, it wasn't too long of a fall. Also luckily, with Elissa's quick reflexes she managed to hold the cat above her as she took the brunt of the impact. Morrigan rushed over to the Grey Warden.

"Are you hurt?" She asked, and if everyone didn't know any better, they'd say it almost sounded like she _cared_.

Elissa groaned, opening her eyes for the first time since the impact. She looked right into Morrigan's eyes and smiled. Morrigan seemed shocked and confused until Elissa held up the cat in triumph. "Ha!" She gloated. "See? Saved it."

Morrigan sighed, tilting her head towards the heavens, as if the Maker himself would show himself and explain to her the inane stupidity she had just witnessed.

The cat in question suddenly hissed, clawing at Elissa's hands and arms. Fortunately, she was wearing her armor so none of the scratches did any damage, however the sudden change in the cat's demeanor shocked the Grey Warden into dropping the poor thing before it ran off past Leliana and Alistair.

"Well, it could have at least said _thank you_." Alistair said, crossing his arms. Leliana smiled.

Morrigan sighed for the umpteenth time that day as she looked over Elissa, who, for her part, looked more shocked than anything.

"The mighty Gray Warden," Morrigan started. "Slayer of Darkspawn and monsters alike, bested by a _kitten_."

"I'll be sure and leave that out of the stories," Leliana added.

"Please don't," Alistair quipped.

"And now that cat that you tried so hard to save will probably be eaten by said Darkspawn, with the direction it went running in," Morrigan added.

Elissa looked disappointed. "I just wanted to _help_."

"Actually, according to these two, your efforts were just to get on my nerves," Morrigan stated. Elissa looked shocked for a moment before she glared daggers at Leliana and Alistair. Leliana just shrugged innocently and Alistair rubbed the back of his neck, knowing he was caught red-handed.

"Well," Elissa started, only to cut herself off.

"Well, _what?_ " Morrigan demanded.

"Nothing," Elissa said quietly, shutting down. "There's nothing we can do about the cat now. Let's just go."

"No, tell me, why is it you _want_ to get on my nerves?" Morrigan demanded again.

"That's not the _only_ thing she wants to get on—" Alistair started with a smirk, causing Leliana to giggle before Elissa looked at the two like she was about ready to commit murder. "Right. Not the time. Sorry."

Morrigan shook her head. "Someone explain to me what he _means_ by that."

"I thought you were super smart, can't you figure it out?" Alistair antagonized.

"Apparently your stupidity is too much for me to be able to decipher," the witch quipped.

Elissa mumbled something too low for anyone to hear, blushing as red as tomato.

"What?" Morrigan asked, exasperated.

"I just want to be friends. _"_ Elissa repeated lowly, though now loud enough to be heard.

" _Just_ friends, mmh?" Alistair asked, smirking again.

"I swear to everything that is holy, Alistair—" Elissa started walking threateningly towards the man, who threw his hands up in surrender.

"Alright, alright! I'm done. _Pinky swear_."

Morrigan, who managed not to look as confused as she felt, furrowed her brows, "So you think that in order to be my friend, you must _annoy_ me? Who gave you _that_ logic—Alistair?"

"No, no, I'm more of the 'pull your hair and put frogs in your room until you notice me' kind of guy—Oh, wait, that's almost the same, isn't it? Point taken."

Everyone seemed to ignore Alistair, though. "So you literally saved the cat just to get my attention," Morrigan repeated in disbelief. "Are you a _child_? We have much bigger problems to attend to!"

"Well, the world might actually be _ending_ , Morrigan," Elissa said.

"Exactly," Morrigan started, only to be cut off.

"And I just wanted… I just want—" Elissa began, though she cut herself off with a sigh – a sure sign she had given up trying to find a way for what she wanted to say. She shook her head. "Never mind, it doesn't matter."

"We have been here for nearly an hour," Morrigan deadpanned. "So you could save a cat. Just to garner my attention. Well, now you have it, so _yes,_ it matters. Explain to me what's going on."

"And she's supposed to be the intelligent one," Alistair said under his breath to Leliana, though everyone could hear.

"She _has_ mentioned that Flemmeth never explained to her the ways of romance," Leliana said just as quietly in Morrigan's defense.

Morrigan, for the umpteenth time that day, scrunched her face up in confusion. "What does this have to do with—" she cut herself off, realization dawning on her. " _Oh_."

Elissa just stood in place with her arms crossed over her chest, staring at the ground before her as a blush crept up her face once more. "It doesn't _matter_ ," she repeated just loud enough so everyone could hear.

For her part, she wanted the ground to swallow her whole at that very moment. She felt the overwhelming urge to run away and pretend none of this was happening.

But they all just stood in silence for a few agonizingly slow minutes. Unable to take it anymore, Elissa shook her head once more. "Let's just go," she said, turning around to walk back to camp. She managed to send a dirty look to Alistair and Leliana, who looked as if they felt guilty.

The next few days were rather strange.

Morrigan was being uncharacteristically quiet. No snarky remarks, no comebacks, no cynicism. Not even a word towards Alistair.

Elissa was concerned, but she knew why Morrigan was acting so strangely. Morrigan hadn't forgotten the event that happened only days prior.

She probably felt uncomfortable now. Or maybe even _hated_ Elissa.

Elissa sincerely hoped she was wrong about the latter.

This was _specifically_ why she was never going to tell the witch about her feelings. She didn't want to potentially ruin whatever friendship they had.

Which was exactly what was happening. Morrigan had retracted into herself, refusing to speak to anyone, and Elissa hated it.

She was furious with Alistair and Leliana. Why did they have to say anything?

They ruined _everything_.

"Are you okay?" Leliana asked. They were at camp, and the only two sitting around the fire. Everyone else was sleeping or on guard.

Elissa managed to look at the redhead. "No," she answered honestly.

Leliana nodded in understanding. "Is this about Morrigan?"

"Why did you guys have to say anything?"

"I'm sorry," Leliana softly said, and she sounded sincere.

"She hates me now," Elissa muttered.

"I wouldn't be so quick to assume."

"Why not?"

"Perhaps you should speak with her," Leliana said.

"Ha!" Elissa let out a soft, humorless laugh. "As if that would actually help anything."

"It could," Leliana continued. "You never know unless you try. You could talk it out."

"There's not much to talk about. She already knows about my feelings. I don't want to make her any more uncomfortable than she already is."

"She may surprise you."

"Surprise me? How?" Elissa asked curiously.

"I don't know," Leliana honestly answered. "But it couldn't hurt—"

"It could _definitely_ hurt."

That made Leliana pause for a few moments before she finally shrugged. "It's up to you, after all. I really am sorry."

"Yeah," Elissa said, not ready to accept the apology. She abruptly stood up. "I think I'm going to stretch my legs." She briskly walked away from camp, heading towards a small lake that she liked to go to for privacy.

She wanted to sulk in peace.

The air was colder than she expected as she was away from the campfire, but she was too stubborn to turn back.

"This is so _stupid_ ," she muttered to herself, crossing her arms over her chest in attempt to keep the cold at bay.

She stopped in her tracks when she saw someone sitting on the rock that she usually claimed as her own.

It took her a moment to realize it was Morrigan.

 _Perhaps you should speak with her_. Leliana's words echoed through her mind.

This was a _horrible_ idea. She let out a breath, mostly to try and expel her nerves.

She walked up slowly. When she was about six feet away from the rock, she stopped and cleared her throat, pointedly.

Morrigan didn't turn around. In fact, she didn't move at all. Or make any indication that she'd heard Elissa.

"Morrigan, I—" Elissa cut herself off, unsure what to say. After a few moments she finally settled with, "I'm sorry."

Morrigan still didn't move.

"I didn't mean for any of this to happen," Elissa continued. "Look, I know you're mad but—"

"I'm not upset," Morrigan said so quietly that Elissa had to strain to hear her. Morrigan finally stood up from her seat and turned around to face the Grey Warden. "It's strange. When I was a child, I used to wonder…" Morrigan started, almost wistfully.

"What do you mean?"

"I used to fantasize about a knight in shining armor rescuing me from Flemmeth's ways; falling in love. Waking up to the person I love every day. Knowing _I_ was loved. It was… a strange thing for me, you see, to even consider such a notion. Flemmeth was adamant that love was a waste of time. And as I grew older, I knew it to be true. Such an idle fancy, love is. But still, every once in a while, I would wonder: would I ever love someone? Could that love be returned? I thought… I _knew_ it to be impossible," Morrigan sighed. "And yet…" she shook her head, almost in disbelief. "You _saved_ me. ' _Rescued_ ' me from Flemmeth. You're even a damned Grey Warden in shining armor. And more than that… you… you _love_ me. I know you do."

It was eerily quiet for several moments as Elissa absorbed everything Morrigan was saying.

"I do," she finally confessed.

"I don't know where this leaves us," Morrigan said.

"It leaves us wherever you want it to leave us."

Morrigan let out a soft, sad laugh. "What I _want_ and what I _should do_ are two separate things."

"What do you want?"

"I want _you_ ," Morrigan answered without hesitation. "I have for a while, in ways I can't even describe. I didn't know what it was. I've never felt this before. I didn't know I _could_ feel this."

Elissa swallowed hard, almost unable to believe what she was hearing. She didn't know what to say. "Morrigan, I…"

"I don't know where this leaves us," Morrigan repeated.

Elissa walked up to the witch until she was within arms' reach. She held her hand out, waiting for Morrigan to take it.

The witch tentatively reached out and grabbed Elissa by the hand.

"It leaves us right here," Elissa finally said, squeezing Morrigan's hand lightly. "If you want, we could forget any of this happened. Or, we could… we could see where this leads us."

For the first time that night, Morrigan looked Elissa in the eyes. "I don't want to disappoint you," she said softly.

"You could never."

Morrigan let out a soft, dark laugh at that. "Perhaps you don't know me as well as you think"

Elissa smiled at that. "Maybe I know you better than you know yourself."

The witch gave a sad smile.

"Listen," Elissa said, reaching her other hand up to caress Morrigan's cheek. "I—"

She was cut off as Morrigan closed the rest of the distance between them and firmly kissed her.

Elissa was shocked at first, but returned the kiss in earnest.

It ended too quickly for Elissa's liking, but she knew there would be many more to come.

It was silent for several moments as the two stared into each other's eyes, as if searching for something.

Elissa's demeanor changed as she grinned at Morrigan. "So, Grey Warden in shining armor, huh?"

Morrigan rolled her eyes. "Don't let it go to your head."

"Maybe Leliana could write a song about it," Elissa joked.

"You're already making me regret this," Morrigan deadpanned.

Elissa laughed.

And perhaps, later, she would thank Alistair and Leliana.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Thanks for reading! Leave a review, if you'd like. _


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